LED Expertise - Products, Industry & News

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Sunday, December 18, 2016

Being relatively new
technology, within the general lighting industry at least, LEDs seem to have a
new qualifying parameter or feature monthly.Developments in the quality and performance of lamps and luminaires have
always garnished a bit of hype, but as this playing ground gets more and more
level the sales focus has shifted to “intangibles” – and of late, warranty has
been playing a bigger role that ever before.

With clients being
better educated confusion is at an all-time high… paradox?Let me explain.

Understanding and differentiating between LED
offerings requires a comprehensive understanding of thermal management, design,
CRI, CCT, flux vs post-optic intensity, optics, LCP, photometric patterns,
blah, blah, blah, jargon, jargon, jargon.When faced with competing LED companies who can provide similar product
specifications for any given application, the client, no matter how much
homework they’ve done, often focus their decision making to what they can
understand best, criteria common to comparing product in any industry – and
warranty often looms at the vanguard.

Warranties in the
lighting industry used to be quite simple.The warranty on your fixture (the frame holding the lamp) would be quite
robust – 5-10 years for instance. On the
ballast (transformer) it was often significantly less or unstated, and the lamp
itself it was non-existent.

With the introduction
of purpose built LED luminaires it became significantly harder to separate at
least two of these components – the LED array (lamp) and frame/fixture had
merged.Power supplies or LED drivers
(formerly ballasts) were oft times inextricable from the luminaire as
well.Combined with lifespans which were
calculated rather than proven it was a difficult task to assign fair and
reasonable warranties to LED products.

In the early days,
most companies, including Empyrean, had a 1 year warranty, today, after 10
years of empirical data/observations, 3-5 years is standard.

Recently we’ve noticed
an industry trend of offering 10 year warranties, and in some cases lifetime
warranties on LED luminaires.Given that these extended warranties are not
based on any leaps forward in the lifespan of components, or increased thermal
management, it begs the questions: Where are they coming from, and why are they
being offered?On face value it would
appear to be a real “win” for consumers but if we scratch the surface we can
see that over-inflated warranties are nothing more than a sales tool.

Let’s consider the
following, and while applicable to any industry, we’re approaching this from
the perspective of an industrial client:

·Warranties
are not made equal. A warranty with restrictions on run-time, or
limited to certain components, is obviously not as valuable as a comprehensive
and unconditional warranty which covers ALL aspects of the luminaire, 24/ run time within the environment of the application period for the duration of
the warranty.Caveat Emptor – read the
fine print!

·Most
warranties in the lighting industry are RTB (return to base).Should your luminaire fail, it is the
client’s responsibility to bear the maintenance cost to remove and return the luminaire
to the manufacturer who will then repair/replace the luminaire and send it back
to the client for installation.

·WHOA!!!Read the above again… it’s on the CLIENT to
handle the maintenance (the single greatest lighting associated cost in most
facilities).So let me ask you, if you
have a lifetime warranty, but you’re replacing that luminaire 2-3 times more
than a competing luminaire, are you actually saving any money despite the
luminaire itself being “free” each time?No.Not at all, not even close.

We’ve seen this exact
scenario recently at a mining site in Australia.The client was offered luminaires with a
lifetime RTB warranty – they took half a dozen units to trial, half of which
failed in the first year of operation.It doesn’t require a PhD in economics to understand that this is not
good value, nor is it a sustainable practice considering each luminaire change
cost them in excess of $2K – 35M poles.

So the ideal solution
is for companies to provide warranties which cover the maintenance costs of
changing over faulty luminaires correct?Perhaps in a perfect world, where companies like my own could guarantee
all aspects of the installation itself – however, with 1000s of luminaries
being installed worldwide this isn’t practical or even possible.

The best, easiest, and
currently available solution is as follows:

Clients
need to understand that warranty is NOT a guarantee of performance or
longevity, rather it is a commercial exercise by the luminaire manufacturer.
This often results in a cycle of depreciating product quality: I want to offer
a 10 year warranty.Building luminaires
that will last for 10 years is impractical in this market. What price per luminaire can the market bear
to cover the replacement costs I know are coming? Let’s downgrade component
quality to meet the required margins to ensure replacement costs can be
covered.Increased sales based on the exaggerated
warranty should stabilise returns.Over-simplified to be sure – but not inaccurate I assure you!

With all
standard luminaire criteria being equal, clients should be basing their
decisions on the following real criteria:

a.Failure
Rates – this is REAL performance data that every company should be able to
provide both the failure rates of their luminaires – this includes drivers and
LED array. For instance, the rate of failure for our drivers is 0.26% (or ~3
drivers out of every thousand), and the failure rate of our arrays (even a
single pixel) is 0.08% (less than 1 out of a thousand) over our standard
warranty period (5 years).

b.Testimonials
& Case Studies – all lighting manufacturers should be able to provide case
studies of their luminaires performance in like conditions, and the contact
details of those on-site directly responsible for their i and performance.

c.Other
“intangibles” – equally important is understanding how easy/difficult the
lighting manufacturer is to work with. How much support do they offer.What are they’re values generally, and where
are they going in the future.This
information can be gleaned from the company, but in my opinion is far more
powerful coming from other clients (see point b).

The point here is do
not assume that a long warranty is synonymous with a quality productand in-line with the expectations that you should have of your LED
solution.Rather, focus your research on
the products’ performance in like conditions and applications and speak to
other clients who have personal experience with this technology.This will surely abate future disappointment
and headaches regardless of what your warranty predicts!

Monday, November 9, 2015

Proposed changes to the Victorian Energy Saving Incentive could mean more energy efficiency opportunities for larger commercial and industrial sites in Victoria. Previously, larger commercial and industrial sites have struggled to engage with the Victorian Energy Saver Incentive due to the limited activities available to be carried out at these sites.On the 22nd of October, the Department responsible for the program released proposed changes to the regulations to include greater Annual Operation Hours into the commercial lighting activity and the introduction of project-based assessments.If these changes are adopted, larger commercial and industrial sites in Victoria will soon have greater opportunity to reduce their energy consumption by implementing energy saving activities and receive financial benefits from the scheme. Keep up to date with future changes via their website.

Monday, May 11, 2015

I’ve seen a lot of consumer guides on the
internet which give “mom and dad” advice on selecting quality LED products for
their home.These guides are often regurgitation's from the Department of Energy recommendations in the States or
from other consumer advocacy groups.While helpful, there is not quite as much at stake when purchasing a
handful of $10 LED globes when compared to replacing a few hundred 400W Metal
Halides in a warehouse.

In my
experience I’ve found that clients employing LED technology for brown field
projects are more likely to take advice from their electrical contractor than
employ an electrical engineer to assist in choosing the best technology. No fault of the contractor, but they are
likely to go with what they know, or if they haven’t been exposed to LED
technology on this level, what they’ve heard works well.

This isn’t always the best bet for obvious
reasons (and most obvious is that every application has its own particular
challenges), but by asking your LED luminaire supplier some questions, risk can
be minimized and providing the perfect solution for the client is more likely.

I’ve assembled 10 questions here which
everyone (contractor/wholesaler and particularly end-user) should be asking
their potential supplier(s).I have kept
the information very brief, and in layman’s terms to keep you all from
“flipping the page”, and provided answers specific to our Andromeda™XPB series
of luminaires as an example – but if you would like further information on any
of these points please contact me directly.

1.Is the product electrically
safe and conform to EMC standards?

Our
Andromeda™ series has the RCM for Australia, cETL for Canada/US, CE and TUV for
Europe.

2.Are IES files available?

IES files are a digital
representation of the lamp/luminaire’s performance characteristics, and these
files are used by lighting designers or electrical engineers to simulate the
lighting for a given application (digital proof of concept).All reputable companies should be able to
provide IES for their products.

We have
IES files for most of our 9000 versions of Andromeda™ available on our website
for easy download.

3.What diode is being used and
does it have IESNA LM-80 documentation?

The brand of diode is worth knowing, as
with everything there are premium brands (such as Nichia, CREE, Seoul
Semi-Conductor, etc…) which are well established and may indicate a better
product or at least quality of light.

But more important is the LM-80 report which
is an approved method for measuring the lumen maintenance and chromaticity
shift of LED light sources.In layman’s
terms this test report provides information how about how long the LED engine
in the luminaire should last, and how well the quality of light will be
maintained.

Further, TM-21 calculations should be
included in the report which can be used to predict the lifespan of the
luminaires under varying conditions.

Our Andromeda™XPB uses
Nichia 219B LEDs, for which a detailed LM80 report is available HERE. This diode is tested at
three separate ambient temperatures (55⁰C, 80⁰C, 100⁰C) with values for lumen
maintenance, chromaticity shift, and a TM-21 projection (L70(10K))
for each temp, which are all greater than 60,000 hrs.

4.What is the Ingress Protection
(IP) Rating of the Luminaire, and has it been salt spray tested?

If the luminaire in
question is going to be used externally, or will be subjected to wet or adverse
conditions it should have a relevant IP rating.You can look at a chart of IP ratings HERE. As a general rule luminaires used externally and subjected
to the weather should have an IP rating of IP65 at least.Salt spray tests are also a necessity if the
luminaires are placed in a corrosive environment (Category C- Category E) –
from 50km from the Ocean.Further,
specific tests should be conducted for environments with unique or especially
challenging environments.

Our Andromeda™XPB
series is rated IPI66, and has been salt spray tested to GB/T 10125 and GB/T
6461 for the pixel rail components.We
also have conducted extra testing for our luminaires placed in highly corrosive
environments, such as the high chlorine environments found in pulp and paper
mills.

5.What is the Lamp Circuit Power
(LCP) of the luminaire, and how much power does it consume in the “off” state?

Lamp Circuit Power is the
actual power usage of the entire luminaire.This includes the driver (transformer), LED engine, and any other
electrical components attached to the unit.The LCP should be tested by a NATA certified laboratory, particularly if
calculations based on the LCP are to be used to apply for power/carbon saving
based incentives.

As part
of our LM79 reports we’ve included testing for LCP.For instance, our 300W Andromeda™XPB LCP is
only 283.3W.In the “off” position our
150W driver for our Andromeda™ consume 1.3W of power (an Andromeda™XPB 300W has
two 150W drivers – therefore 2.6W of power).

Junction temperature (TJ)
is the temperature measured at the semi-conductor (LED) itself during
operation.Tj is typically measured at
various ambient temperatures to ensure that the recommendations of the diode
manufacturer are being met.Tj temperatures
that meet, or are lower than the LED manufacture’s recommendation indicate
excellent thermal management and will ensure that the diodes meet both their performance
and lifespan characteristics.Tj temps
which exceed stated limits typically mean poorer performing diodes and shorter
lifespans (if not outright failure).

Our Andromeda™XPB
series, driven at 600mA, has a Tj temp of 102⁰C at an ambient temp of
55⁰C.The Tj max for the Nichia 219B
diode is 150⁰C.This indicates
exceptional thermal management, guaranteeing performance and lifespan even at
high ambient temperatures.

7.Quality of light.CCT ranges and CRI.

The quality or
characteristics of light required for a given application vary widely.And without going too much into appropriate
Colour Correlated Temperature (CCT) or Colour Rendering Index (CRI) it is
useful to know what your application requires (practicality, or through and
applicable standard) and ensure that your choice of LED mirrors or exceeds the
requirement.The important question to
ask here is “Does your choice in LED luminaire provide variability in both CCT
and CRI to accommodate your requirements?”.

We offer
a multitude of options in both CCT from amber (2300K) to very cool white (8500K
)in a single diode, to 20,000K with colour mixing, and everything in between.We also offer high CRI options (95Ra+) for
specific applications.Our CCT is binned
within 175k for most of our luminaires.The most common Andromeda™XPB is ~4500K & CRI >75.

8.What is the power factor of the
luminaire?

Power factor (PF) is
expressed as a ratio of “real” vs. “apparent” power – with a perfect power
factor being “1”.PF is important
because it measures how effectively you are using power, and improving it can
maximize current-carrying capacity, improve voltage to equipment, and reduce
power losses – which leads to lower electricity bills.

The
Andromeda™XPB series has a power factor of greater of >0.9, with typical
luminaires in the series at 0.95 or greater.These are excellent values for lighting (for example, fluorescent
technology often has PF values less than .80).

9.What is the lifespan of the
luminaire?What is its warranty?

The DOE in the US limits
lifespan claims at 50,000 hours, and Energy Star Standards require a 3 year
warranty at least on LED lamps/luminaires. Most quality LED products should
have at least a lifespan of 50,000 hours and a 3 year warranty.

By using
the information in question 3 and 6 above, it can be shown that even in the
most extreme conditions (ambient of 55⁰C) the Andromeda™XPB with Nichia 219
diodes will perform past 60,000 hours (to L70).As such we have a comprehensive warranty of 5
years on this product.It’s worth noting
that at 12 hour per day, 365 day per operation, the luminaire would be expected
to last for ~13 years.

10. What is the efficacy (lm/W) of
the luminaire – post optics?

This measurement has
become a benchmark of LED performance.It is not necessarily always relevant, however, when replacing high
intensity discharge luminaires it can indicate potentially large savings in
power.The higher the efficacy, the greater
the savings in power as compared to lower performing luminaires.It is important, however, to know the
POST-OPTIC efficacy, not the luminous flux.As all that matters to an end-user is how much usable light is actually
being emitted by the luminaire – versus how much is being generated (and lost)
in the first place.This information is
often available on the LM79 report.

Our Andromeda™XPB
series has an efficacy of 115+lm/W post-optics which you can view HERE.This is very high compared to both
traditional lighting and other LED products, and sets our luminaires apart as
some of the most efficacious available.

About Me

We are designers, manufacturers and suppliers of ultra high quality LED lighting products. We've got over 15,000 LED products which vary to suit every application. Our mission is to provide a green, safe and efficient lighting alternative to the world market.

Currently our lights can be seen at Bondi Beach, Sydney SEA Life Aquarium, Sentosa Resort Singapore, Canberra Airport, Xstrata MacArthur River Mine and throughout the Canada Vale mines.